Commercial Architecture April 2017 - 5

EDITOR'S

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Study Analyzes High-Performance Buildings

he term high-performance buildings gets used and abused

emerging conception of buildings can be reduced to four principles.

a lot these days. If I asked ten people to define that term,

Buildings should be viewed as:

I'm rather confident there would be eight or, more likely,

* a whole, composed of integrated systems and subsystems

ten versions. Some clarity about what high-performance structures

* integrated with a larger community of buildings

are and will be was provided in a March 2017 publication authored

* integrated with electricity generation and distributions systems

by Dr. James Feihaut, professor of architectural engineering at Penn

* performing over a lifecycle within a community lifecycle."

State Univ., State College, PA, and Lisa

All the factors and forces that will influ-

Tryson, director of communications at

ence building performance must be treated

Danfoss, Baltimore.

as integrated features of the whole building

The report, High Performance, Mak-

equation, the authors continue. "Such an

ing the Buildings-Energy Equation Sus-

approach implies a pronounced shift in em-

tainable, seeks to outline/define "practic-

phasis to a creative, problem-solving design

es, paths, and technologies available now

process applied to each building. That shift

to achieve transformative building and

obviously implies another: design costs will

energy innovation." In the introduction,

be substantially higher. So, the design func-

the authors state, "Transformation of the

tion, by implication, assumes the task of

building-energy equation at an afford-

cutting costs elsewhere to achieve (at least)

able price is possible today. It is not pro-

cost parity while substantially improving

hibitively expensive. It is overdue. It

building energy performance over tradition-

does, however, require change on multi-

al design performance.

ple levels within industries long viewed

"Integrative design means team design.

as static."

The factors to be integrated through the de-

But what is a high-performance build-

sign process are diverse and variable-includ-

ing? The authors offer that high perfor-

ing all the building systems and sub-sys-

mance "in terms of energy, health, comfort, and economy, might be better

A new report from Penn State Univ. and Danfoss takes a fresh
look at how we define and design high-performance buildings.

tems, external community power, building,
transport, water, and other systems, and the

expressed as buildings that achieve and

natural conditions under which the build-

maintain high health and comfort and

ing will operate."

dramatically lower energy requirements at a cost low enough to be

But "if high-performance buildings need to be a collaboration,

offset by the value of energy savings. High performance would need to

each must also be a unified conception," the authors caution. "At the

reference the full range of building and community factors that can be

center of the design process is the 'master builder'-the architectural

integrated into building performance to reduce building energy re-

engineering function that creatively integrates the varied demands,

quirements to levels that can be supplied by non-carbon sources at

functions, conditions, systems, sub-systems, technologies, compo-

cost parity with traditional buildings (or better) and with high quality

nents, and aesthetics of the building into a synthetic whole."

in-building health and comfort."

This report presents an interesting view of what commercial struc-

Achieving the transformation to high-performance buildings "re-

tures need to become to provide the sustained energy efficiency and

quires shifting from component specification to integrated design.

occupant comfort that is and will be the expectation for new and

That shift has vast consequences. To be effective, integrated design

renovated buildings. The quotes presented here reveal only some of

requires a new orientation toward building delivery, maintenance, and

the high spots in the report, which also includes an assessment of what

improvement over the life of the building," according to the authors.

some of our major cities are doing to address building design and en-

They expand on this new orientation in the "Paths, Practices, and
Technologies of Transformation," section by suggesting that, "The

ergy usage. It's worth a read. Download it at commercialarchitecturemagazine.com/1704psudanfoss.

Gary L. Parr
Editorial Director
commercialarchitecturemagazine.com

APRIL 2017

COMMERCI A L A RCHI T EC T URE

http://www.commercialarchitecturemagazine.com/1704psudanfoss http://www.commercialarchitecturemagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Architecture April 2017